


grave

by literatiruinedme



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Fix-it, Episode: s04e01 In Memoriam, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-09 07:21:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20991011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literatiruinedme/pseuds/literatiruinedme
Summary: Jughead finds Betty after the funeral service.





	grave

**Author's Note:**

> okay ik 4x01 wasn’t about her, but betty didn’t deserve to be by herself at Hal's grave and I’ll never forgive RAS for that.

Jughead sighed as he walked away from Fred’s grave, his heart feeling particularly heavy in his chest. 

It still didn't feel real. He knew he'd one day shoulder the front end of a modest casket -Fred wouldn't want anything more- with Archie opposite him, but he'd imagined it would be a while down the road.

Maybe in twenty or thirty or forty years, but he had always hoped it would have been further away.

Jughead shook the thought away.

Instead of dwelling, he pressed his fingers to his cheeks, letting out a short puff of air when he realized his face was dry before he scanned the semi-open field for Betty. 

He stopped in his tracks when he noticed her standing in front of a large marble headstone, black ink covering the face of it. 

Betty didn't deserve the pain she'd been forced to suffer through the past few months. First her actual father and then the only other man she saw as a father figure.

Jughead stopped next to a small bouquet placed on a random grave.

A daisy had been knocked free, and even if it was a little old and wilted, it's yellow center was still bright, holding the petals together.

“Sorry, Michael,” he whispered to the grave's occupant before walking off in Betty's direction.

Betty didn't move as he walked up behind her; instead, her shoulders relaxed like they always did when she recognized his familiar gait.

Jughead took a knee, setting the daisy down before looking at the stone.  _ THE BLACK HOOD ROTS IN HELL _ stared back at him in angry black lettering. “Does paint thinner strip marble?” he wondered aloud.

Betty took a shaky breath. “I'm not entirely sure,” she admitted.

Jughead nodded, rising to his feet again. He brushed some dirt from the knee of his trousers before stepping back until he was at Betty's side. After a moment of quiet, he reached out for her hand.

“Why?”

He blinked, glancing back at Betty. “What?”

Betty cracked a small, sad smile. “Why are you asking?”

He shrugged a shoulder as his fingers threaded through hers. “No reason.”

She hummed in acknowledgement before going quiet again. Betty sniffed, resting her head on his shoulder as he free hand wrapped around his upper arm. “Am I going to be cleaning turpentine off of you at some point this week?”

He smiled weakly as her thumb rubbed up and down over the fabric of his stuffy suit. After all the graffiti he'd cleaned up, she was well acquainted with helping him clean paint off of his hands. “Depends if it’ll destroy marble or not.”

She let out a soft laugh and Jughead felt a weight he hadn't even realized he'd been bearing lift off his shoulders.

He squeezed her hand as he leaned down to kiss the crown of her head. “Not to be a downer,” he said slowly, considering his words very carefully. “But I really can't sit through lunch at Pop's with everyone.”

While Jughead would never turn down free food, he couldn't sit there and listen to people's stories of Fred. Any other day,  _ maybe _ , but he had learned to grieve by himself and he was good at it- better when he could be by himself with Betty. 

Betty nodded. “Agreed,” she murmured, sounding thoroughly exhausted.

Jughead rested his cheek on her head. “Can we go home?”

Betty nodded after a moment of quiet.

Jughead straightened as he squeezed her hand again, taking a step away, gently urging her into moving. He paused when she didn't follow. “Betty?”

She sniffed again, not looking away from the gravestone. “Yeah?” Her voice trembled as she spoke.

Jughead frowned, stepping between her and her father’s body.

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “What?”

He let go of her hand before reaching up to cup her face between his palms.

“Jug-”

“We'll come back,” he promised. “We can-” He took a shaky breath. “We can make sandwiches and some snacks and we'll have a picnic.”

Her brows furrowed. “Here?”

He nodded. “Not today, but give me a few days.” He would need to figure out how best to clean the stone -and he was sure that'd probably include scrubbing it until his joints were stiff from gripping whatever brush he ended up using- but he would do it a million times for her. “Maybe Archie and Veronica can have their own picnic with Fred and we can all go for a drive afterwards. Or...something- I don't know.”

Betty's eyes watered and her lower lip trembled before she wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest.

His heart broke when she took a shaky breath before sobbing softly. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly to his chest as he slowly rocked her back and forth. He bit his lower lip so hard he tasted blood as he held back tears. 

Betty needed him to be strong, so he would be.

Sometime later -it might have been seconds or minutes, he couldn't really tell- she finally calmed in his arms, hiccuping occasionally. She pulled him closer as she took a shaky breath. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Jughead held her tighter. “Anything for you.”

Betty pulled back slowly, glancing up at him with exhaustion clear in her face and how she held her shoulders. She smiled weakly when he dried her cheeks.

He carefully wiped away a tear clinging to her clumped lower lashes. “Dad and JB are going with Archie and Mary, so we'll have the house to ourselves for a little while. We could take a nice shower, get into something cozy, and curl up with a movie- if you wanted to.

“That sounds nice,” Betty said softly. She hiccuped again, chortling when Jughead couldn't fight back a smile. “I think I need some water first.”

“I hid some in a cooler in the car because I figured you may need some.”

“Thank you.”

Jughead nodded, taking both of her hands in his. “Are you ready to leave?”

Betty looked down at the ground, nodding after a moment of quiet. “Yeah,” she said softly.

“Okay,” he breathed. After a moment of shared quiet, he squeezed her hands, guiding her towards the car.

She only hesitated for a moment before following. Betty leaned into his side, wrapping her arm around his waist as she silently encouraged him to allow her to support his tired body while they started across the grassy field, the sun beaming down on them as they walked in comfortable silence.


End file.
